posted: 2025-01-30 Raw Blue Whirr

2019’s Feels Like You was their strongest record yet, and Raw Blue might be another improvement. It all depends on if you gel with Raw Blue’s unobtrusively experimental tendencies. It’s a dark, dense affair and dynamic to what may comprise a fault – the quiet parts are very quiet and the loud parts very loud. However, it’s clear that the record has a vision that translates into some wonderfully soothing sounds. When the pulsating “Collect Sadness” repeatedly explodes into a warm wall of sounds, it’s hard to resist its heaviness. When “Crush Tones” dwindles into circular dissonance, it’s nearly impossible not to be drawn in by its dissociation. When “Enjoy Everything” climaxes into a fucking trumpet solo, it’s impossible not to wonder how they pulled it off. In essence, Raw Blue takes everything Whirr has learned alongside the nugaze who’s who of the record’s liner notes and sees what can be added or subtracted without compromising the contemplative beauty they have all mastered.

jesper, Sputnick Music